This is the short story of a red-hot 1953 Chevy and a lifetime promise in Austin.

Dave Vires loves his car, a 1953 Chevy 210 Sedan Deluxe. Dave’s car is not your average antique car. In this case, it’s a car he completely reassembled after purchasing the body for $200 in 1982.

Rebuilding the car with no engine did take up some of Dave’s spare time, like the next 13 years until it was completely restored in 1995. Dave literally knows his car inside out, and he also knows that in 1953 the car first sold for $1,707 from Garriott Chevrolet in Crothersville.

For 13 years, Dave’s passion drove him to complete the job he started, and when it was over the results were a beautiful, red-hot Chevy. The story could end right here and be a good story, but there is more.

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Dave has driven his car along parts of the famed U.S. Route 66, ending up in Las Vegas. Now that’s a good story for sure, driving 2,000 miles from Austin all the way to Las Vegas in a car you built. But there’s more to this story.

Dave wasn’t the only one with great passion for his car. His mother saw his hard work and developed a strong love for the car, as well. After all, 1953 was the year she married Dave’s father.

When his mother became ill in 1997, and shortly before she passed away, she asked Dave to never sell the car. She wanted it to stay in the family and remind everyone that 1953 was a special year.

Since that time, the car has attracted many potential buyers, with offers that would be hard for most people to turn down. But not for Dave because he promised his mother he would never sell the car.

And in his own words, he tells those with offers, “I promised my mother I would never sell the car, and a promise means more to me than any amount of money.”

Well, now you have the whole story, and it’s a good story that just got better. It’s a great story.

Dave hails from the Austin High School Class of 1976 and is employed at Morgan Foods in Austin.

Mike Barrett is an area resident with an interest in history. Send comments to [email protected].